Page 45 - Encyclopedia Of World History Vol III

864 berkshire encyclopedia of world history

more unpopular than Athenians had been, before meet- racy than art traditions of Asia or elsewhere had done
ing defeat in 371 BCE by the Thebans, who were in turn before.Greek monumental architecture remained simple,
overthrown by Philip of Macedon in 338 BCE. To keep featuring columnar facades and straight geometrical roof-
the peace, Philip made himself commander-in-chief of a lines.But subtle curvature and proportion please modern
Hellenic league of cities. His son, Alexander, after ruth- eyes as much as they presumably did when first con-
lessly suppressing a revolt, led a combined Macedonian structed. In later centuries, classical Greek styles of sculp-
and Greek army against the Persians in 334 BCE. His vic- ture and architecture spread widely across Europe and
tories brought the Persian empire to an end, and after his Asia; they still affect many of our public buildings.
death in 323 BCE, Macedonian generals set up kingdoms
of their own in Egypt, Asia, and Macedon. Greek cities Greek Religion
nominally regained their freedom but in fact remained Yet there was more to the Greek cultural heritage than
bit players in continuing great power struggles until 31 visual art, civic solidarity, and collective heroism. Ratio-
BCE, when the Romans unified the entire Mediterranean nal argument, science, and philosophy burgeoned as
coastline and its hinterlands in a more lasting empire. well, rivaling traditional religious ritual and belief. This
aspect of Greek society reflected the fact that religion in
Ancient Greek Culture Greece had become a hodgepodge by the time written
and its Legacy texts allow us to know anything about it. Ancient and
Long before then, Athenian art and literature of the clas- secret fertility cults, like the one at Eleusis, promised eter-
sical age, 480 to 338 BCE, had become familiar to nal life to initiates. Such mysteries fitted awkwardly with
wealthy Greeks everywhere. Precisely because the free- Homer’s quarrelsome gods, living on top of Mount
dom of the polis was slipping away from their grasp, they Olympus. In addition, Greeks engaged in ecstatic wor-
cherished the Athenian literary heritage for showing ship of Dionysos (Dionysus), god of wine, sought cures
how free men ought to conduct their affairs and lead a from Aesclapios (Asclepius) through dreams, and
good life. Later on, Romans, too, shared a similar nos- inquired about the future from oracles like that at Delphi,
talgia, for their republican liberty was also a casualty of where fumes from the earth intoxicated the Pythia, mak-
empire.Accordingly, Roman art and literature borrowed ing her babble in ways that priestly experts interpreted
themes and ideas from their Greek predecessors, and the for inquiring visitors.The Greeks also honored the gods
resulting amalgam was what, almost fourteen hundred by stripping themselves naked to compete in athletic con-
years later, inspired Italian and other European human- tests at Olympia and elsewhere at special festivals. This
ists to revive ancient glories by teaching the young to shocked others, but became a distinctive trait of Hel-
read, admire, and emulate Greek and Roman literature lenism as it spread across western Asia in the wake of
and art. Alexander’s armies, rooting itself in new Greek-style
The power and complexity of Greek thought, and its cities founded by discharged veterans.
concentration in Athens between 490 and 338 BCE,
remainsamazing.Reason,imagination,doubt,hope,and Greek Philosophy
fear all play their part in classical Greek literary explora- Nothing resembling a coherent worldview emerged
tion of the human condition. Fate, gods, and men inter- from such confusion, and when Greeks began to buy
act, surprisingly, often inscrutably. Above all, classical and sell overseas, they encountered an even greater con-
Greek writers remained in thrall to Homer, portraying fusion of religious ideas and practices in Egypt,Asia,and
human beings confronting the world’s uncertainties hero- more northerly lands. Polis magistrates could and did
ically. Greek sculptors also portrayed both men and gods reconcile the irreconcilable in ritual fashion by sustain-
in heroic human form, and attained greater visual accu- ing traditional rites and in some cases elaborating on